Early Photography of China Collection: A highly important collection in development.. Various places, 1850s-1930s

The most valuable collection of early China photography in private hands, the Early Photography of China Collection includes the greatest masterworks of China photography by the foremost photographers working in China in the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the 20th century. The collection has been assembled over the course of many years, and we continue to expand and refine it as worthy photographs and archives become available. This collection, unrivaled in quality and extent in private hands, provides a unique opportunity to own one of the greatest collections of Chinese photography extant. We are eager to acquire important China photographs, from individual objects to albums and collections. We invite you to contact us.

Collection in development

Ambrotype Portrait of John D. Rockefeller. Cleveland, Ohio: Wiliam C. North, c. 1857-1858

This famous portrait of John D. Rockefeller at age 18 is the earliest known photograph of the greatest titan of American business and industry.

$150,000

An extraordinary collection of photographs of Central Park by its first official photographer. New York, 1862

Pioneering photographs of Central Park. One of the earliest photographers to work in New York

$135,000

The Original Big Tree, 32 feet diameter. Charles Weed, 1864

Mammoth albumen print (15 ½ x 20 in.), mounted.

$35,000

Original glass plate interpositive prepared by Curtis for the printing of The North American Indian. Curtis, 1924

This is a splendid original glass plate made for Edward Curtis’s The North American Indian, the greatest photographic work on Native Americans. Curtis, one of the greatest American artists of his era, was the most celebrated photographer of North American Indians.

$35,000

The Temple Mount, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, 1857

This landmark two-part view of the Temple Mount is one of the very earliest multi-part panoramic photographs of Jerusalem.

$32,000

An album of 20 excellent views of Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls, New York, compiled in 1867

An outstanding album containing beautiful and unusual images including, as its final image, one of the most remarkable North American photographs of the period.

$25,000

King of Siam’s State Barge. Bangkok, c. 1865

This is a magnificent two-panel view of the king’s barge on the water, with dozens of oarsmen ready to put their paddles in to the water. The king’s ornate covered throne is at the rear of the vessel. The riverbank in the background is crowded with low thatched roof buildings.

$15,000

Photographic album of Gothic architecture and proposed designs for the Royal Courts of Justice, London. Various places, 1868-70

This splendid album contains 120 fine medium and large format photographs of Gothic and High Victorian Gothic architecture.

$12,000

Catalogue of the celebrated collection of works of art and vertu known as “The Vienna Museum,” the property of Messrs. Lowenstein Brothers, of Frankfort-on-the-Main. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1860

This important volume is “the earliest photographically illustrated auction catalogue” (Gernsheim, Incunabula, 122). It contains 36 photographs on salted paper by Hermann Emden of Frankfurt.

$12,000